Medical News

RSS

Hospitals, after agreeing to cuts, push ahead with a full agenda

With the Obama administration's help, hospitals are moving aggressively to resolve their biggest objections to legislative proposals to overhaul the health system.

8 Jul 2009

Emanuel reassures Democrats on public insurance option

"White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reassured House Democrats on Tuesday night that President Barack Obama strongly backs a government-run health insurance plan, seeking to quell a firestorm among liberals upset at Emanuel's comments in the Wall Street Journal that suggested such a plan could be delayed," Roll Call reports.

8 Jul 2009

Health reform legislation will impact preventive and wellness programs

Reuters reports: "Efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and expand coverage to millions of uninsured could lead some wellness programs to expand and others to constrict, experts say.... In all of the bills in Congress, insurers would be required to cover some preventive services, and all of the bills include prevention and wellness incentives.

8 Jul 2009

Poor working conditions for docs may affect quality of care

"Adverse working conditions for primary care doctors, including time pressures and an unfavorable organizational culture, may lead to stress, burnout, and ultimately to lower quality patient care, a new study found," MedPage Today reports.

8 Jul 2009

Taxing health benefits lacking Hill support

The idea of taxing health care benefits is proving to be a divisive issue for Democrats as they continue to press forward in health overhaul negotiations.

8 Jul 2009

Obama busy 'selling the greater good' on health reform

President Barack Obama, in comments about health reform, has acknowledged what most Americans already know, that "(w)hat's good for the health care system as a whole often looks very different when it's their own health at stake, or the health of someone in their family," CQPolitics reports.

8 Jul 2009

Blacks with equal care still more likely to die of some cancers

"African Americans are less likely than whites to survive breast, prostate and ovarian cancer even when they receive equal treatment, according to a large study that offers provocative evidence that biological factors play a role in at least some racial disparities," the Washington Post reports.

8 Jul 2009

Thirteen single-payer activists settle their cases after disrupting hearing

Thirteen people charged with "disruption of Congress" for standing and shouting pro-single-payer system slogans during a health care reform committee hearing settled their cases, The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reports.

8 Jul 2009

Providers and Medicare battle: who owns home oxygen equipment?

A new Medicare rule limiting payments for oxygen providers is prompting an aggressive lobbying campaign by the industry, and unintended consequences for patients, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

8 Jul 2009

Abortion could prove divisive for health reform, too

An ultimatum against using federal money for abortion procedures could reopen the politically treacherous rift over the issue, creating yet another obstacle for congressional Democrats to overcome if they are to achieve their health reform goals, Time reports.

8 Jul 2009

Health reformers shy from proposals that would limit treatment options

In a story headlined 'In Retooled Health-Care System, Who Will Say No?' the Washington Post reports: "Although Obama and his advisers have held up providers' spending patterns as the crux of the crisis, proposals in Washington go only so far in addressing the thorniest questions about who gets what care."

8 Jul 2009

Costliest Medicare markets in Florida, New York, California

U.S. News & World Report examines cost, frequency, and outcomes studies on Medicare patients from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice : "The Dartmouth research is particularly relevant to older Americans because it is based to a large extent on Medicare data, involving patients ages 65 and older.

8 Jul 2009

White House reassures drug CEOs: reimportation could be 'unnecessary'

The Wall Street Journal reports: "Industry representatives met at the White House Tuesday with officials to consider specifics of a cost-saving agreement the industry reached last month with health-care negotiators and to discuss other concerns that the pharmaceutical industry has with the larger health-care overhaul being considered by Congress.

8 Jul 2009

ECOSOC's agenda should include noncommunicable disease threat in developing countries

"[E]xplicit indicators to measure progress in reducing heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases" are missing from the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) agenda as it meets in Geneva this week "to focus on implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to public health," and the "omission needs to be urgently addressed if the intent is to have a major impact on reducing poverty by 2015," Ala Alwan, WHO's assistant director-general for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health; George Alleyne, PAHO's director emeritus; and Martin Silink, president of the International Diabetes Federation write in an opinion piece in the Hindu.

8 Jul 2009

WHO to recommend countries stop testing for H1N1

Within the next few days, the WHO "will recommend that countries stop trying to test all suspected cases of swine flu, said Keiji Fukuda, the agency's assistant director-general of health security and environment," Tuesday during a conference call with reporters, Bloomberg reports.

8 Jul 2009

IPS examines need for new drugs to treat neglected tropical diseases

Inter Press Service News Agency examines the shortcomings of treatments for neglected tropical diseases - which, according to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), account "for 12 percent of the global disease burden," and 1.3 percent of the new drugs developed between 1975 to 2004.

8 Jul 2009

WSJ examines project aimed at delivering drinking water to populations in India, China

The Wall Street Journal examines how a "rainwater harvesting project," called Aakash Ganga is delivering water to India's northern state of Rajasthan - one of the driest states in India - and expanding into China's Guiyang Municipality. The original project, supported by the World Bank, is set to expand from six villages in Rajasthan to "70 villages, to provide water security to 200,000 people," the newspaper writes.

8 Jul 2009

Climate change, hunger, economy G8 Summit top priorities; France's First Lady calls on G8 to expand on global health 'achievements'

President Barack Obama joined world leaders in Italy on Wednesday for "three days of intense talks on threats to global security and stability" at a G8 summit "where climate change, the continuing global economy crisis and world hunger got top billing," AP/Google.com reports (Babington, 7/8).

8 Jul 2009

Health indicators in South Africa vary by district, report indicates

In South Africa - "the quality of health care, including access to HIV prevention and testing services," largely depends on which of the country's 52 districts a resident lives in - according to findings in the latest District Health Barometer (DHB), an annual report by Health Systems Trust, IRIN reports. "Some of the inequities highlighted by the [report] can be traced to differences in health spending," IRIN writes.

8 Jul 2009

Thiarabine shows promise for rheumatoid arthritis

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today new preclinical data demonstrating that thiarabine shows remarkable efficacy in the prevention and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

7 Jul 2009